Kiwi Land

I made it! After a 12 hour 25 minute flight I finally arrived in New Zealand. On the plane I didn't get to sleep much (probably because I am 6'3 and way to big for the seat). We landed about 5:15 am New Zealand time. When I went through Customs of course I got the guy that decided to grill me. He asked me a bunch of questions including if I had my ticket to leave. I told him yes, but he want to see it. So I had to turn on my phone and find it in my email account. I am sure that cost me a few bucks.

After successfully getting past NZ customs and inspection I got on the airport express bus to my hotel. It was a short 30 minute bus ride through Auckland at "O Dark Thirty". I got to my hotel around 7:00 am and went up to my room to meet up with Ken (he is my buddy that I will be traveling with for the next few weeks). I politely woke him up and got the day started.

We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We were sat next to two older gentlemen that started a conversation up with us. It turns out that they live here in new Zealand, but have been to California including Manhattan Beach (Small World!) They gave us some great tips for when we travel over the next couple of weeks.

After breakfast we walked down to the harbor to look around. It is a beautiful day here in Auckland. There are bright blue skies, a light breeze and about 9 degrees Celsius. It looks like it is going to be pretty cold throughout our trip. On our walk we were stopped by about 6 young school kids (ages 10 to 14). They were part of a leadership camp and were playing "The Amazing Race" game. They asked if we would give them $2 if they sang for us. We told them that would be great. So, the youngest girl of the bunch started singing this Disney type fairy tale song, and she was GREAT! I was so impressed that i gave her $5 at the end (well, the real reason is that Ken and I didn't have just $2). We made the kids day. As soon as they got the money they took off running to their next mission. It was a pretty cool experience.

That leads me to now. We decided to return to the hotel to rest a little and are about to go back out to do some more exploring. I cant believe this is only my first day. I can already tell this is going to be a jam packed filled trip, and I love it.

I will try to post pictures and videos in some of my later posts. I hope all is well with everyone and until next time, may you all have a ripe kiwi!

BC